Daniel Chiu

Daniel Chiu

2020 Q1 Goal Review (COVID-19 Edition)

Re-aligning It’s crazy to say, but the world has changed a lot in the 3 months since I wrote and published my 2020 goals. Two rather large events have affected my world and, I think, the world at large: * The acquittal of Donald Trump by the US Senate, and

Medellín, Colombia

Narrative I lived in Medellín, Colombia for 3 months from late May until late August 2019. This post is written and published after the fact. Medellín, Colombia, (pronounced me-da-jean in the local accent) like many other places I’ve been to is a complicated place with a troubled past. To

2020 New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year from Taipei, Taiwan!! For quite a few years now, I’ve been writing out my annual goals and publishing them here on this blog. I’m going to skip the usual preface, as it’s getting repetitive, but suffice to say that it’s been a good

2019 End of Year Review

If you’re looking for my 2020 New Year’s Resolutions, you can find them here. Without looking at my goals, I want to say that qualitatively 2019 has been a decent year. I spent time in 6 countries (including my brief stays in the US), made a few new

The Story So Far

Sooo turns out I’m terrible at posting regular updates. Looks like I haven’t written much since probably July of last year. I owe an honest apology to anyone who has been waiting expectantly month after month for… silence. And I owe a genuine thank you to everyone who

2019 New Year's Resolutions

Since 2016, I’ve been writing down my annual goals and sharing them here to keep myself accountable. Since then, the process has evolved and a good number of these self-promises have been fulfilled–like completing an Ironman, taking a more authentic tack in my career, or challenging myself to

2018 End of Year Review

Reflections Truthfully, I’ve struggled with what to say about 2018. It’s been a strange and challenging year, less certain and less structured than any to date. I didn’t exactly accomplish what I set out to–2018 wasn’t the year that my business ventures took off, nor

Plum Village: What It's Like to Spend 2 Weeks in a Buddhist Monastery

I wrote last week about why I went to a Buddhist monastery. This week I’m writing about the experience itself. I didn’t really know what to expect when I arrived at Plum Village, a mindfulness practice center and Buddhist monastery near Bordeaux, France, but I went in hoping

How and Why I Ended up at a Buddhist Monastery

As a self-professed agnostic, I’m not a terribly religious, spiritual, or superstitious person. In fact, I’ve spent much of my life incredibly skeptical of both religions and religious practitioners. My skepticism was so strong that if you had told me 5 years ago that I would one day

Bienvenue en France

The last few months since my last entry in this series have been eventful, though, perhaps not terribly productive in a traditional sense. After a month of respite in California and then New York City, I have, at long last, made my way to France where I am endeavoring to